Veterans

Veterans who go back to school lack support

John Schupp, second from right, teaches a class of military veterans in the chemistry lab at Cleveland State University in Ohio. Schupp runs the university's Supportive Education for the Returning Veteran program that allows military veterans to take classes together to help them re-adjust to civilian life.

Enrollment of veterans is surging at America’s college campuses, but as a group they don’t feel supported and understood, according to a national survey.

Researchers with the National Survey of Student Engagement interviewed nearly 11,000 student veterans who were first-year students or seniors at four-year schools. The veterans reported interacting less with their instructors than did classmates who had not enlisted, and they were less likely to partake in educational opportunities such as internships or study abroad.

The Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research produces the survey each year to measure how students and faculty interact and learn. The latest survey found that colleges should “seek ways to more effectively engage student veterans in effective educational practices and provide them with the supportive environments that promote success.”

Transitioning from military life to civilian life is difficult enough, but trying to fit in on a college campus is “a culture shock that’s hard to adjust to,” said Michael Dakduk, the deputy executive director of Student Veterans of America, which has chapters on more than 300 campuses.

Other factors can also make veterans feel disconnected: They are more likely to transfer between schools or to enroll part time, the survey found. One in five combat veterans reported having a disability, compared with one in 10 non-veterans. Veterans also spend more time working or caring for a family than do traditional college students.

Still, the veterans reported just as many hours studying as their peers. “What amazes me is how many people are succeeding, despite the obstacles,” Dakduk said.

Colleges need to realize that student veterans are different from typical students and need more support, said Brian Hawthorne, who served two tours in Iraq for the Army and is a graduate student at George Washington University in political management.

Hawthorne said veterans need administrators who understand the “depth and breadth” of the complicated GI Bill and can help students graduate in less than four years. “The veteran experience is not one that most people know,” he said. “I could pay anyone to go to college. … It’s the services that keep veterans in school.”